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A haven of a bar near the Rialto in Venice! Happy hour between 5 and 7.30pm makes the delicious cocktails very affordable.
This was actually recommended to me by another traveler and the fact that I'm passing on the tip says it all!
There may be tourists here but they are mostly backpackers and young people, giving the bar a fun international flavor.
The owners are super-friendly too and seem genuinely interested in their visitors, particularly those from elsewhere in Europe so be prepared to engage in some lively conversation!
San Marco 5546, Venice
www.bacarojazz.com/
This is a new five-star hotel just in front of the cathedral and the Giralda. It's super-modern and it has some great stuff inside it, such as a Japanese restaurant, Spanish modern food, a cocktail bar, rooftop terrace with insane views, spa massage facilities, and great service.
If you want to have a rare sheltered yet sunny spot by the beach for tanning or just chilling out, try Tangana as it had everything we needed: food, drinks, kite hire and lessons. You can also rent a bungalow for the week (but I have no idea what they are like).
A short walk up the beach westward, there is also a huge sand dune you can walk up for views.
Its a couple of miles west of Tarifa at Casas de Porro, www.tarifaweb.com/tangana/eng/index.htm . We got a taxi from the Port at Tarifa, it cost about €12 one way.
Finally, a gay bar in Florence that doesn't hide behind closed doors. Located just around the corner from the famous and lively Piazza Santa Croce, this is a nice, open and straight-friendly place for having a drink with your friend(s) after sightseeing or after dinner.
For a gay guide and map of Florence see: www.patroc.com/florence/
Borgo Santa Croce 23/r
+39 (0)552001057
Secreted in a tiny village between Torquay and Exeter this restaurant is a delight. Using mostly local ingredients to create excellent menus at what - at least to London eyes - are very reasonable prices.
www.vanillapod-cridfordinn.com/
Trusham, Teign Valley, Newton Abbot, Devon
TQ13 0NR
reservations@vanillapod-cridfordinn.com
Lusaka is not a necessarily a great place to visit but it was wonderful to live there.
The people are great, warm and friendly.
Whilst the Falls and safaris tend to attract everyone's attention a weekend in Lusaka could be fun.
Start a Friday night with a 20z quality Zambeef steak at the Marlin restaurant which is in the Lusaka club. It is a step back in time but the garlic or black pepper steak is sublime.
Then head to Browns which may not be a salubrious joint but is busy on a Friday and has a mixed clientele. Have a bottle of Mosi and a Rumba dance.
Lusaka Club is off the roundabout on Los Angeles Boulevard.
This is a modern British restaurant near the river in Winchester. Its a converted pub with bare brick, wooden tables and a large fireplace. The food can be very traditional brought up-to-date, or things you don't find on menus often like wood pigeon and lamb sweetbreads. It has a nice atmosphere and looked popular with business people too.
And it's worth booking as it is very popular.
88 Chesil Street, Winchester, Hampshire.
Phone: 01962 844465
theblackrat.co.uk/
It's in the heart of the theatre district and is an independently run venue. I've never seen an Indian restaurant and live music bar rolled into one - it's fab.
The Spice Lounge
No. 3, Savoy Crescent
Theatre District
Central Milton Keynes
MK9 3PU
www.spicelounge.org
This great little cafe/bookshop is what all cafes in Rome should be like. Not perhaps as achingly scenic as some other cafes in Rome, it's nevertheless a good bet for a coffee, a slice of cake and a browse through the books.
Via dei Fienaroli 28 (across the river in Trastevere)
www.bibli.it/
Shakespeare was to rhyming couplets what this place is to bangers and mash. Mix loads of different sausages (from a fine local butcher in Hove) with as many different types of mash. Good job the bangers and mash is so good because it's the only food they do (aside from a smashing Sunday roast.) Top staff and great music seal the deal. I live in Mexico City now and miss this place massively.
Seven Dials, Brighton
Thai Restaurant and Globe Lounge Bar. Great Thai food, comfy lounge bar with sunny patio and terrace.
The Globe, 3 Market Street (off Castle Square) Ludlow, Shropshire
Chapter houses the city's only arthouse cinema, a great bar, a cafe (food is good though service can be slow when busy - allow plenty of time if you're eating before a show or film) and a theatre. It's an easy bus journey or a 15-20 minute walk from the centre of Cardiff.
If anyone feels like having a pleasant evening with candlelight and intimate ambiance, try 1917 Blinis & Vodkas. They have a good assortment of smoked fish (salmon, tuna, herring, etc) on top of freshly baked blinis and a choice of 30 different kinds of vodka from Estonia, Russia, Poland, France, Argentina, etc. And the location is perfect: next to the Teatro Real (Madrid's Opera House).
Calle de la Independencia 1, 911 429 800, Opera metro station, bar1917.com
Right opposite the excellent Café Gollem (a lovely, cosy little bar where you can sample up to 200 Belgian beers) is one of the best beer shops in Holland. Selling about 500 beers from all over the world and specialising in beers from small independent brewers, it's an absolute treasure trove for the beer lover. You can buy Westvleteren there (which is reputedly the best beer in the world and extremely hard to come by), as well as some truly stunning Scandinavian and American beers. Try the Norwegian Porters and Imperial Stouts. Highly recommended.
And once you've bought some for later, why not pop into Café Gollem to try a couple on tap and maybe a Kaasplank (literally a plank with cheese & bread on it). Very satisfying. There's also a second branch of Café Gollem right by the Albert Cuyp Market in the Pijp district.
crackedkettle.nl/store/
www.cafegollem.nl/default_EN.asp
www.cafegollem.nl/bierkeuken/default_EN.asp
Both The Cracked Kettle and Café Gollem are on Raamsteeg, a small alley between Spuistraat and the Singel canal. The other Gollem is on Daniel Stalpertstraat, round the corner from the Albert Cuyp Market and the Heineken brewery
The Pav is Trinity College Dublin's only drinking hole at the moment, and as the summer approaches is really the only one needed. The bar itself is horrid.
I'm recommending it on the strength that it is the best place to drink outside in central Dublin, legally.
On a Thursday and more so on a Friday there will be literally thousands of people, students, office slaves and more, sitting in the sun drinking. Drinks can be bought at the bar- 4 cans of larger for €8 - or more often brought in. Sometimes there's cricket on, and you can laze and look at that, or the stunning Berkley Library full of studying students, all wishing they were down on the grass next to you.
Other activities might include an impromptu kick about, impromptu sing-a-long, frisbee game, streaker and other studenty type activities.
Food and other drinks available and there's a very limited selection of beers and stouts on tap, but buying drink in there seems against the whole spirit of the thing.
The Pavilion Bar,
Trinity College Dublin,
It's the yellowish building facing on to the cricket pitch.
A great option in Sao Paulo if you want to meet new friends, have excellent appetisers and hamburgers, and play snooker while enjoying live music is the Canucks, located in the Vila Olimpia region. It is a fantastic place and English is spoken (www.canuckspub.com).
Rua Gomes de Carvalho 1666 phone 55-11-3463-5240
www.canuckspub.com
It is astonishing to come across acharming and friendly inn off a highway between Lechlade and Burford and have the most memorable pub lunch of chicken liver and brandy pate and a yellowfin tuna nicoise that didn't taste of dishwater, and all on a Monday after visiting William Morris's house at Kelmscott (which was closed, so we needed cheering up, and got it). The most beautiful village of old houses made of sublime Cotswold Stone - walks, woollen mills, beautiful things to buy, heaven - we will stay here next time- Tadeus Pfeifer, Basel
Filkins, Oxfordshire - website
thefivealls.co.uk/
This is a bar that I would dearly love to have just down the road at home!
Small, cosy and intimate, playing great music from Joy Division, The Smiths, Bowie, The Sex Pistols, etc.. An indie mecca for music.
Friendly bar staff, cheap prices and never that concerned about closing! I left there at gone 2am and there was no sign of people leaving, in fact others were still coming in!
Do yourself a favour and discover this little gem!
This is a really good bar in Southwark, great for an after work drink and not too expensive for where it is! (good chips too)
Home to the world famous Irish music session fronted by the award-winning Grace Kelly.
Holder of the world record for biggest Irish session held in a pub.
Session every Wednesday, live Irish music every Saturday and Sunday. Friendly staff, cosy atmosphere.
Opening Times
Monday 11am - 11pm
Tuesday 11am - 11pm
Wednesday 11am-11pm
Thursday 11am - 11pm
Friday 11am - 12midnight
Saturday 11am - 12midnight
Sunday 11am-11pm
www.myspace.com/unionpub
Union Irish Music Lounge
845 Stockport road
Levenshulme
Manchester
M19 3PW
0161 224 1271
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